1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a frame for housing printed circuit boards incorporated in various electrical/electronic devices and plate materials used in other industrial fields, such as panels serving as building materials. More particularly, this invention relates to a plate material-housing frame that is adaptable to variation in the width of a plate material to be housed.
2. Description of the Prior Art
An example of the conventional housing frame will be described, with reference to FIG. 48. As illustrated in this diagram, for the purpose of fixing a top plate 111 and a bottom plate 112 as vertically opposed across a predetermined interval with four columns 113 and disposing laterally opposite side boards 114 and 115 in such a manner that the one side board 115 may be moved in the horizontal direction toward the other side board 114 and eventually fastened at a necessary position, the housing frame provides long holes 116 in the top and bottom plates 111 and 112, inserts through the long holes the axial parts of rotation-freezing members 117, such as hexagon-head bolts or continuous-thread studs which are capable of being fastened thereto from outside, fastens slide frames 118 at the positions corresponding to the long holes 116 outside the side board 115, and fastens to the upper and lower ends of the slide frames counter members 119, such as nuts, to which the rotation-freezing members 117 may be tied. Since a plurality of support grooves 120 are formed each correspondingly on the inner surfaces of the stationary and movable side board 114 and 115, plate materials 121 of a length equaling the predetermined interval between the opposed side boards 114 and 115 can be vertically superposed as individually suspended on the support grooves 120 which are laterally opposed at horizontal positions.
In the above example, since the plate materials 121 cannot smoothly be inserted into and extracted from the frame when the interval between the opposed support grooves 120 happens to equal the length of the plate materials 121 while the interval of the opposite side boards 114 and 115 is being adjusted to the width of accommodation of the plate materials 121, the housing frame must allow for a slight clearance for the interval under discussion. The fine adjustment that is required in allowing this clearance is unexpectedly so difficult as to impose the problem of unduly consuming time.
The present inventor, with the object of solving the problematic point mentioned above, has proposed a frame for housing plate materials, which is provided on the mutually opposed inner surfaces of the laterally opposed side boards equally with a plurality of support grooves and provided therein as well with a means for adjusting the interval between the laterally opposed side boards and which is further provided on at least either of the mutually opposed inner surfaces of a pair of members suitably selected from among the side boards, bases (top and bottom plates) disposed on and under the side boards and joints interconnecting the side boards and the bases with adjusting projections adapted to protrude slightly from the support grooves (JP-A 2002-084081). Since the invention thus proposed contemplates allowing an interval endowed with a predetermined clearance to intervene between the opposed support grooves by simply causing the plate materials intended for accommodation in the frame to contact the adjusting projections and consequently adjusting the width of plate materials, it enables any person at all to effect adjustment of the clearance accurately and quickly.
This frame nevertheless is at a disadvantage in compelling a worker engaging in making the adjustment of clearance to take hold of a given plate material in one of his hands for the sake of advancing one end of the plate material into collision against one of the opposed inner surfaces furnished with the adjusting projections, then use the other hand in moving one of the side boards toward the other side board, and continue to keep hold of the plate material in the one hand till the work of adjustment is completed. Thus, the worker is obliged to carry out the work of keeping hold of the plate material in one hand and the work of moving the movable side board with the other hand at the same time. This operation is irksome unexpectedly, particularly so when the plate material has a large size. The desirability of enabling this operation to be efficiently performed, therefore, has been finding enthusiastic approval.
This invention has been assigned a task of solving the problem encountered by the conventional frame for housing plate materials as described above and has consequently pursued the object of providing a frame for housing plate materials, which enables the work of adjusting clearance in setting the width for accommodation of plate materials to be carried out more easily.